"In some respects the young have never had it so good," Guest writes, explaining that millennials grew up in a post-global financial disaster era where smartphones meant everything they ever wanted to know was at their fingertips.

Young people score higher on intelligence tests, which the report attributes to better nutrition and mass education. They go on to make more money than their elders, too.

But much of that talent goes to waste. Unemployment rates run at least twice as high among young people compared to their elders in most regions, Guest says.

An extremely competitive job market that in some countries favors the already employed has made it even tougher for young people to land work. According to Guest, over 25% of young people in middle-income nations and 15% in rich ones are categorized as "NEETs" — not in education, employment, or training.

Making matters worse, the soaring cost of a higher education causes students to accumulate more debt. The number of bachelor's degree recipients who graduate with a student loan has more than doubled between the mid-1980s and today, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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For millennials who are in debt and unemployed, other milestones that define adulthood get delayed. Guest explains that young people want to move to major cities where they can find well paying jobs, but the housing crisis complicates the dream. They also hold off on starting a family until their late 30s.

"They form families later partly because they want to and partly because it is taking them longer to become established in their careers and feel financially secure," Guest writes. "Alas, despite improvements in fertility treatment the biological clock has not been reset to accommodate modern working lives."

All this data comes with a caveat: Not all millennials are created equal. Guest advises the readers take it with a "bucket of salt," considering 85% of the world's 1.8 billion young people live in developing countries.

Still, stunting young people's growth has consequences that reach far beyond them. Guest ends the report with a warning, advising countries to "work harder to give the young a fair shot."

You can read the rest of Guest's riveting summary here. And before you pass judgment on the cast of "Silicon Valley" or the eternally unemployable gals of "Broad City," remember: It's not so easy being young.